Technique of Earthworms Restoring Soil in Greenhouse Cultivation

The production environment of greenhouse cultivation is relatively closed,the multiple cropping index is high,the management of fertilizationwatering and pesticideapplication isblindtosomeextent,andthe phenomenonofcontinuous cropping isalsocommonSoilquali-ty affects the sustainable development of greenhouse cultivation.Earthworm is a ubiquitous invertebrate organism in soil,an important part of soil system,a link between terrestrial organisms and soil organisms,an important link in the small cycle of soil material organisms,and plays an important role in maintaining the structure and function of soil ecosystem.Different ecotypes of earthworms are closely related to their habi-tats(soil layers)and food resource preferences,and then affect their ecological functions.The principle of earthworm regulating soil function is essentially the close connection and interaction between earthworm and soil microorganism.Using different ecotypes of earthworms and bio-logical agents to carry out combined remediation of greenhouse cultivation soil is a technical model to realize sustainable development of green-house cultivation.

Earthworm Optimization with Improved SqueezeNet Enabled Facial Expression Recognition Model

Facial expression recognition(FER)remains a hot research area among computer vision researchers and still becomes a challenge because of high intraclass variations.Conventional techniques for this problem depend on hand-crafted features,namely,LBP,SIFT,and HOG,along with that a classifier trained on a database of videos or images.Many execute perform well on image datasets captured in a controlled condition;however not perform well in the more challenging dataset,which has partial faces and image variation.Recently,many studies presented an endwise structure for facial expression recognition by utilizing DL methods.Therefore,this study develops an earthworm optimization with an improved SqueezeNet-based FER(EWOISN-FER)model.The presented EWOISN-FER model primarily applies the contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization(CLAHE)technique as a pre-processing step.In addition,the improved SqueezeNet model is exploited to derive an optimal set of feature vectors,and the hyperparameter tuning process is performed by the stochastic gradient boosting(SGB)model.Finally,EWO with sparse autoencoder(SAE)is employed for the FER process,and the EWO algorithm appropriately chooses the SAE parameters.Awide-ranging experimental analysis is carried out to examine the performance of the proposed model.The experimental outcomes indicate the supremacy of the presented EWOISN-FER technique.

Evaluation of cytotoxic and anti-tumor activity of partially purified serine protease isolate from the Indian earthworm Pheretima posthuma

Objective:To isolate,partially purify and evaluate the cytotoxic and antitumor activity of a serine protease from the chosen Indian earthworm Pheretima posthuma.Methods:Whole animal extract was prepared and purified its protein constituents by size and charge based chromatographic separation techniques using Sephadex G-50 and DEAE-Cellulose resin respectively.Average molecular weight of the protein isolate was determined and analyzed for its cytotoxic property against Vero cells in different dilutions(1:20 and 1:40)and anti-tumor activity by MTT assay(a colorimetric assay)using breast cancer cell line MCF-7,with tamoxifen as standard.Results:One of the protein constituents after purification was characterized as serine protease by Caseinolytic plate diffusion assay.Average molecular weight of this purified isolate was determined,by SDS-PAGE analysis with standard protein ladder,as of 15 kDa.The performed tests suggested that the 15kDa fraction has potent cytotoxic activity and satisfactory antitumor activity as well in vitro.Conclusions:Exact molecular mechanism of the cytotoxic and antitumor activities is yet to be explored and currently we are working on ultra-purification and biophysical characterization of this fraction.Further investigation into the mechanism(s)of cytotoxic and antitumor activities at molecular level would be useful in treatment of various classes of cancer and viral infections in future.

Urban land-use impacts on composition and spatiotemporal variations in abundance and biomass of earthworm community

Soil fauna can sensitively respond to alterations in soil environment induced by land-use changes.However,little is known about the impact of urban land-use changes on earthworm communities.In this study,three land-use types(i.e.,forest,nursery and abandoned lands)were chosen to identify differences in diversity,abundance and biomass of earthworm community in Kunming City.Urban land-use had a pronounced difference in species composition,evenness and diversity of earthworm communities.Forest land had the highest density,biomass and diversity of the earthworm communities.Total abundance was dominated by endogeic species in nursery land(70%)and abandoned land(80%),whereas in the forest land,the earthworm community comprised epigeic,endogeic and anecic species.Temporal changes in earthworm density and biomass were also significantly affected by land-use change.Total density and biomass of earthworms in the forest and nursery lands were highest in September,but highest in the abandoned land in October.The influence of soil physicochemical properties on the earthworm density and biomass also varied with land-use types.Soil temperature significantly affected earthworm density and biomass in the three land-use types.Soil pH was positively correlated with earthworm biomass in the forest land,but negatively associated with earthworm density in the abandoned land.Soil organic matter was positively correlated only with density and biomass of earthworms in the nursery and abandoned lands.Our results suggest that the species composition,abundance and biomass of earthworm communities can be determined by the modification of soil properties associated with urban land-use type.

地震数据处理系统Earthworm在福建地震预警系统项目中的应用

本文介绍了USGS(美国地质勘探局)开发的Earthworm系统在福建地震预警系统项目中的应用。该系统为开源软件,由C语言编写,由不同模块组建而成,每个模块实现不同的功能,主要包括数据接收模块、P波拾取模块、地震定位报告产出模块、地震事件图件绘制模块、地震波存储容器等。同时,用户可以根据自己的需求编写相应的功能模块。文章对该系统的应用进行了介绍,内容包括Earthworm系统的组织架构、业务流程、软件模块的主要功能搭建与配置及软件模块之间的逻辑关系等,目的在于介绍该系统的架构方法与使用心得,促进该系统在地震行业内得到应用与推广。

Effects of Rare Earth Element Lan on the Activities of Earthworm Enzyme

The effects of Rare Earth Element Lan on the activities of cellulose, catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutasein in earthworm were carried out by natural soil test. The results indicated that Lan can significantly suppress the activity of cellulose. The responses of three enzymes in earthworm to Lan were different, Lan mostly affects catalase activity and inhibited catalase activity throughout the experiment. Peroxidase activity tend to "promote weakly and inhibited strongly" when short term of exposure to Lan, while "inhibited weakly and promote strongly" as a function of time. In comparison, Lan had little influence on the activity of superoxide dismutase. The variance analysis results showed that the concentration of Lan significantly affected the activities of cellulose and CAT but had no obvious influence on the activities of SOD and POD. The treatment time and the interactive effect between treatment concentrations and time had very significant effect on the activities of cellulose, SOD, CAT and POD.

Interaction between Earthworms and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Plants:A Review

Different kinds of soil animals and microorganisms inhabit the plant rhizosphere,which function closely to plant roots.Of them,arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)and earthworms play a critical role in sustaining the soilplant health.Earthworms and AMF belong to the soil community and are soil beneficial organisms at different trophic levels.Both of them improve soil fertility and structural development,collectively promoting plant growth and nutrient acquisition capacity.Earthworm activities redistribute mycorrhizal fungi spores and give diversified effects on root mycorrhizal fungal colonization.Dual inoculation with both earthworms and AMF strongly magnifies the response on plant growth through increased soil enzyme activities and changes in soil nutrient availability,collectively mitigating the negative effects of heavy metal pollution in plants and soils.This thus enhances phytoremediation and plant disease resistance.This review simply outlines the effects of earthworms and AMF on the soil-plant relationship.The effects of earthworms on root AMF colonization and activities are also analyzed.This paper also summarizes the interaction between earthworms and AMF on plants along with suggested future research.

Enzymes of Earthworm as Indicators of Pesticide Pollution in Soil

The importance of the earthworms in the agricultural practices is well known. The increasing applications of pesticides and chemicals in the agricultural farms have adversely influenced the flora and fauna of the soil. Earthworms which immensely contribute in increasing the quality and fertility of agricultural soil are reported be worst hit organisms under such conditions. Recent reports have indicated growing interests among researchers to explore biochemical and molecular markers as indicators of accumulation of pollutants in the soil in general and pesticides in particular. The varying levels of several biomolecules in different parts of the earthworm have been reported which are indicative of sensitivity of the organisms to different xenobiotics. However, the existing information lacks the literature displaying stock of information regarding the impact of pesticides on the levels of some key enzymes regulating many crucial functions in the earthworm at one place. Keeping in view this issue, it was envisaged to bring out a mini review which illustrates updated information available on the impact of pesticides on the activities of certain key enzymes reported to be responsible for catalysing metabolic pathways concerning the neurotransmission system, energy metabolism, oxidative stress and amino acids metabolism in different body parts of the earthworms, a prospective bioindicators of pesticides contamination in the soil.

Feasibility of a novel vermitechnology using vermicast as substrate for activated sludge disposal by two epigeic earthworm species

This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of vermicomposting by using vermicast as the substrate for the stabilization of municipal activated sludge, called hereafter as direct vermistabilization, in which the pre-treatment and bulking materials required in previous practices were all omitted. For this purpose, two epigeic earthworm species, namely Eisenia foetida and Bimastus parvus, were inoculated into substrate for composting fresh dewatered activated sludge. Direct vermistabilization resulted in significant reductions in pH, TOC, C/N ratio and the content of heavy metals, as well as increases in EC, total N, total P and total K in the final vermicast. Moreover, both Eisenia foetida and Bimastus parvus showed faster growth rate and higher cocoon production. The results of this study suggest that the direct vermistabilization has the advantages of being simple, cost-effective and efficient, and can thus be used as a feasible vermicomposting approach to convert fresh dewatered activated sludge into a valuable product for agricultural use. The results also suggest that Bimastus parvus can be used as a new potential candidate for vermicomposting of municipal activated sludge.

Earthworms: Charles Darwin’s ‘Unheralded Soldiers of Mankind’: Protective &Productive for Man &Environment

Earthworms promises to provide cheaper solutions to several social, economic and environmental problems plaguing the human society. Earthworms can safely manage all municipal and industrial organic wastes including sewage sludge and divert them from ending up in the landfills. Their body work as a ‘biofilter’ and they can ‘purify’ and also ‘disinfect’ and ‘detoxify’ municipal and several industrial wastewater. They reduce the BOD & COD loads and the TDSS of wastewater significantly. They can even remove the EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals) from sewage which is not removed by the conventional sewage treatments plants. Earthworms can bio-accumulate and bio-transform many chemical contaminants including heavy metals and organic pollutants in soil and clean-up the contaminated lands for re-development. Earthworms restore & improve soil fertility by their secretions (growth hormones) and excreta (vermicast with beneficial soil microbes) & boost ‘crop productivity’. They have potential to replace the environmentally destructive chemical fertilizers from farm production. The ‘protein rich’ earthworm biomass is being used for production of ‘nutritive feed materials’ for fishery, dairy & poultry industries. They are also being used as ‘raw materials’ for rubber, lubricant and detergent industries. The bioactive compounds isolated from earthworms are finding new uses in production of ‘life saving medicines’ for cardiovascular diseases and cancer cure.

PCR-DGGE analysis of earthworm gut bacteria diversity in stress of <i>Escherichia coli</i>O157:H7

In order to test if the intestinal bacteria play an important role in antibacterial ability of earthworm, we chose Escherichia coli O157:H7, an anthropozoonosis pathogen, as a biological stressor and studied the change of intestinal bacteria community of earthworm by PCR-DGGE analysis. Results showed that the pathogen merely existed 1 - 3 days, then almost disappeared after through the earthworm’s gut. In this period, the diversity and abundance index of intestinal bacteria increased first, then decreased, and finally kept stably after 7 days. The result demonstrated that the intestinal bacteria of earthworm had ability of adjust community structure to eliminate the pathogen E. coli O157:H7, and the amount of bacteria Bacillus increased significantly, which might be the positive antagonism to E. coli O157:H7.

Earthworm系统实时数据接入模块的设计与实现

为研究Earthworm系统在山西测震台网中的应用,提高山西测震台网的地震速报水平,设计开发Earthworm系统实时数据接入模块。该模块基于C语言实现从山西测震台网Jopens/SSS流服务器获取实时波形miniSEED数据包,经过steim2解压缩算法、数据包重组等处理,输出到Earthworm系统传输环的功能。通过应用,达到了设计目的,满足了实际需求。

Monitoring of soil heavy metal pollution by earthworm

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Radioenhancing effect of earthworm capsule medication on radiotherapy in the treatment of patients with carcinoma of esophagus or lung

Earthworm capsule is an extract from earthworm made in our laboratory.From1986 to 1989,486 patients with carcinoma of esophagus or lung were randomly divided into 2groups,one group received radiotherapy alone(control group)and the other radiotherapycombined with earthworm capsules(treatment group).All cases were diagnosedpathologically or cytologically.In a two-month treatment course,earthworm capsuleswere given orally twice a day,2～3 capsules each time,each capsule containing 60 mg ofthe extract.Compared with the control group,the CR(complete remission)rate andCR+PR(partial remission)rate in patients with carcinoma of esophagus treated byradiotherapy in combination with earthworm capsule increased 9.7%(P【0.01) and 9.6%(P【0.05),while in patients with carcinoma of lung,they increased 10.6%(P【0.05)and13.5%(P【0.05),respectively.The earthworm capsule caused irritation in the alimentarytract,the patients displaying slight nausea and vomiting(16.7% in thecombination treatment group and 10.0% in the control group).However,these side ef-fects could be alleviated when capsules were taken after meal or with honey concomitantly.No deleterious effects on the heart,liver,kidney,skin,hematopoietic or nervous systemwere seen.

Additive effects of earthworm extract with HpD-laser on the enhancement of reactive oxygen production and the inhibition of[~3H]—thymidine.uptake in mouse ascitic tumor cells

The effects of combined use of earthworm extract（912）and HpD-laser on the produc-tion of reactive oxygen and the biosynthesis of DNA in S180 tumor cells were studied throughchemiluminescence measurement and[3H]-TdR incorporation assay.The results showed that as com-pared with the control,the intensity of chemiluminescence emitted by tumor cells treatedsimultaneously with 912 and HpD-laser was enhanced more than ten-folds,while that treated with912 or HpD-laser alone was increased only 2～4 folds.The[3H]-TdR incorporation into tumorcells of the former group was inhibited upto 74.1%,and that of the latter groups decreased onlyby 42.2% and 40.0%,respectively.In accordance with these biochemical changes,the ultrastructuraldamage of tumor cells of the former,combinedly treated group appeared to be the most serious.This suggests an additive effect of 912 with HpD-laser on tumor cells.In addition,if free radicalscavengers,such as catalase and superoxide dismutase,were added to the reaction systembefore chemiluminescence assay,the luminescent enhancement effect mentioned above was dramaticallyalleviated,implying the presence of O2 and H2O2 in the system.Therefore,as to the toxic effecton tumor cells,912 and HpD-laser are not only additive in efficiency,but also similar in theunderlying mechanism of action.

Earthworms' Transcriptome and Gut Microbiota Response to Mineral Weathering

1 Introduction Earthworms are an important component of soil macrofauna,dominating the biomass of soil invertebrates(Kodama et al.,2014;Plum and Filser,2005).They are known as the'engineers of ecosystem',and have

Improvement of NIR models for quality parameters of leech and earthworm medicines using outlier multiple diagnoses

Leeches and earthworms are the main ingredients of Shuxuetong injection compositions,whichare natural biomedicines.Near infrared(NIR)diffuse reflection spectroscopy has been used forquality assurance of Chinese medicines.In the present work,NIR spectroscopy was proposed as arapid and nondestructive technique to assess the moisture content(MC),soluble solid content(SSC)and hypoxanthine content(HXC)of leeches and earthworms.This study goal was toimprove NIR models for accurate quality control of leech and earthworm using outlier multiplediagnoses(OMD).OMD was composed of four outlier detection methods:spectrum outlier di-agnostic(MD),leverage diagnostic(LD),principal component scores diagnostic(PCSD)andfactor loading diagnostic(FLD),Conventional outlier diagnoses(MD,LD)and OMD werecompared,and the best NIR models were those based on OMD.The correlation coefficients(R)for leech were 0.9779,0.9616 and 0.9406 for MC,SSC and HXC,respectively.The values ofrelative standard error of prediction(RSEP)for leech were 2.3%,5.1%and 9.0%for MC,SSC and HXC,respectively.The values of R for earthworm were 0.9478,0.9991 and 0.9605 for MC,SSC and HXC,respectively.The values of RSEP for earthworm were 8.8%,2.4%and 12%for MC,SSC and HXC,respectively.The performance of the NIR models was certainly improved by OMD.

Response of Nitrous Oxide Flux to Addition of Anecic Earthworms to an Agricultural Field

The burrowing and feeding activities of earthworms may have a strong effect on the flux of N2O from agricultural soils. As such, shifts to agricultural management practices that increase the number of earthworms require an understanding of the role of earthworms in N2O dynamics. We conducted a field experiment to examine the effects of addition of anecic earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) on N2O flux in a field previously planted with corn (Zea mays) in southern Rhode Island, USA. Plots were amended with (15NH4)2SO4 and either 0 (CTL) or 48 L. terrestris m-2 (EW). The flux of N2O, 15N2O and 15N2 was measured over 28 days between October and November 2008. The EW treatment had a significantly higher flux of N2O and 15N2O 1 - 3 days after 15NH4 addition. No treatment effects were observed on 15N2 flux. The addition of earthworms significantly increased (Day 1) and decreased (Day 12) the mole fraction of N2O relative to the CTL. Our results suggest that anecic earthworm additions can increase N2O flux from inorganic fertilizer N amendments, but the effects appear to short-lived.

Earthworms: A Source of Protein

Earthworms are important invertebrates that have been widely used as food and traditional medicine sources for thousands of years. Not only have researchers proven that earthworms are rich in proteins and other nutrients, they have also taken a keener interest in their unique pharmaceutical properties. Recent research has successfully discovered some beneficial functional components of earthworms due to the rapid development of biological technologies in the past decades. Therefore, earthworms could be a novel dietary supplement for human consumption. This review aims to summarize the current research about nutritional and therapeutic values of earthworms;and present a matured earthworm-derived product from Bocom Pharmaceuticals (USA) Corp as an example of its incorporation into a dietary supplement.

Numerical Simulation of Electroosmotic Flow near Earthworm Surface

The electroosmotic flow near an earthworm surface is simulated numerically to further understand the anti soil adhesion mechanism of earthworm. A lattice Poisson method is employed to solve electric potential and charge distributions in the electric double layer along the earthworm surface. The external electric field is obtained by solving a Laplace equation. The electroosmotic flow controlled by the Navier-Stokes equations with external body force is simulated by the lattice Boltzmann method. A benchmark test shows that accurate electric potential distributions can be obtained by the LPM. The simulation shows that the moving vortices, which probably contribute to anti soil adhesion, are formed near earthworm body surface by the nonuniform and variational electrical force.